Sometimes books become memorable because of how you found them, not just their content, and this is one of those.  We were lucky enough to do the big family trip to America 18 months ago, and this series was one we had not previously seen in Australia.  My daughter and I  have lovely memories of sitting by the pool at the Paradise Pier hotel at Disneyland relaxing with this book after a HUGE day in the park.

The premise is that sons and daughters of the Greek Gods are part of the general population, as offspring of a relationship between one of the Gods and a mortal.  These kids are monitored and as their “special skills” begin to show themselves, they are either secretly guarded or moved to Camp Half Blood.  As you would imagine in these kinds of stories, a major catastrophe is imminent and a small group of the teenage demi-gods are relied upon to save the day.

Percy Jackson is not a normal kid. He’s got a best friend who’s half goat, shops at Medusa’s shop of garden statues and eats lunch with the god of war. Hey, it’s not like he even planned it! Raised by his mum, with not even a fleeting memory of his dad, Percy is certain that he is going to spend his whole life under the radar. But when he is dragged from his life into a world where even the most wild Greek myths are real, one thing is certain, his life is about to change, and there’s no going back.

Its good fun – as was the movie – and really easy to kick back and enjoy the story.  And, there are subsequent books in the series.  One of the things I look for when buying books for M13 the reading machine.

First week of school holidays next week so should be able to devour some more books over the Easter break.  Hope you get some reading time as well.

While she’s halfway through the second book, I have just finished the first one and I can see why she enjoyed it so much.

The main character, Henry, is a sheltered boy whose travel writer parents are missing, so he goes to stay with his Aunt, Uncle and cousins in a country town called Henry.  Here he learns to come out of his shell and discovers his previously unknown love of adventure.

There are many secrets to discover in Henry (the town), including the 99 cupboards built into the wall in Henry’s room that have been plastered over.

Henry, along with one of his cousins, Henrietta, find each cupboard enters a different world by secretly chiselling away at night.  They also discover that they are not the first family members to have discovered them – another secret!

We didn’t find the secrets scary, just adventurous, with a few nasty characters thrown in.

R10 tells me that in book two, Henry & Henrietta have once again delved into the cupboards using their grandfather’s journal and cupboard key.  She can’t wait to see how it ends.

“As I walked out into the bright sunlight …”

The first and last line of one of my very favourite teenage literary memories, The Outsiders.
Written by S.E. Hinton when she was 17 years old and published in 1967, The Outsiders is a short novel about two teenage packs – the Socs and the Greasers – the haves and the have-nots.

I have always remembered this book fondly since first reading it in my early teens – perhaps it is such a strong memory because of the movie of the same name with so many good looking boys in the lead roles which I watched many times back in the day.

I asked M13 to read it for the first time, so I could get her opinion for Our Spare Room. She read it in less than an hour and found it a little sad but well worth the read.  She gave it 24 hours and then went back and read it again, its very different from her usual fantasy fare.  M13 especially found the fact that a 17 year old girl wrote it inspiring.

I enjoyed rereading the novel, having not read it for more than 20 years.  I find it a comfortable read because it feels true to life.  There will always be division between teenage groups, so the angst rings true, and you feel sympathy for the boys who struggle with their families, or lack of them.

It’s an emotive story – but I think this would be a ‘tuff’ read for age 12+ who don’t mind a bit of real life in their books.

Do you have a book from your teenage years that has stuck in your memory?

It’s a challenge sometimes to find a great kids’ book.  Especially for voracious readers, of which I have two.  I find myself staring at shelves in bookstores looking for interesting, age appropriate books that will take longer than an hour to read and ideally are part of a series.

Over the last 13 years, we’ve had our literary hits and misses.  And talking to lots of other parents, we’re not the only ones searching for more hits!  I love it when we discover a book that is so good, we all want to read it at the same time.  Although frustrating at times, it’s terrific to see them with a book that is so intriguing, they can’t get their nose out.  It’s a feeling I can appreciate.

So I want to talk about the ones we have found, in the hopes of finding more along the way.